Compassion

I took this photo at the end of April up in the hills to the south of us. I was struck by the verdant green of the grass, the moodiness of the sky and the poignancy of the sign next to the winding roadway.

As I've post-processed this photo, I've reflected about the symbolism that lies within it. No one knows the road I've traveled just as I don't know the roads others have traveled. It's simply because the road one travels is theirs and theirs alone. My life's road has had bends, turns, ups, downs, lovely vistas and bleak horizons. I assume everyone's does.

Through all those changes of scenery and particularly through traveling the most difficult stretches of road, I've learned one thing--compassion.

It is because of the challenges I've faced that I am a better human being. Without them I wouldn't have empathy, compassion, charity, hope and a myriad of other important life acquisitions that can only be attained through traveling the most difficult of life's roads.

I have to be honest... when faced with an uphill climb, huge pothole or some other trial in my journey I'm the first to grumble and fuss. It's never fun. I rarely have very good perspective in the midst of the trial. And I certainly don't blissfully sit back and say, "I am SO thankful for this!" Nope. I'm a whiner.

But once the trial has progressed, once I've just bent over and headed into it (even if I complained as I did so) at some point when the trial begins to ease up or has completely passed, I see the blessings that have come along with the hardship.

And very often one of the most precious blessings I've received is compassion.